Osama bin Laden's death put al-Qaeda in irreversible decline

The killing of Osama bin Laden has plunged al-Qaeda’s core leadership into a decline it will be hard to reverse, according to an American intelligence report

The report included statistics showing that the overall number of terrorist attacks worldwide fell to 10,283 last year from 11,641 in 2010 

Rob Crilly in Islamabad

2:57PM BST 01 Aug 2012

In its annual Country Reports on Terrorism, the State Department described 2011 as a “landmark year”, with the deaths of Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, the group’s deputy leader and Anwar al-Awlaki, a senior figure of its affiliate in Yemen, among other high-profile casualties.

It warned however that affiliates in Yemen and West Africa pose a growing threat to the West.

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Al Qaeda gaining 'operational capability' despite core losses, report shows

Western strikes on Al Qaeda have shown progress in taking out the terror group's core in Pakistan, but affiliates still are increasing "operational capabilities," the State Department said in releasing its annual Country Reports on Terrorism.
Highlights of the 2011 report include the death of Usama bin Laden and Al Qaeda's relative lack of influence on the so-called Arab Spring revolutions in the Middle East, the State Department's top counterterrorism official, Daniel Benjamin, said Tuesday.
He warned, however, that the United States has "no illusions" that further progress against terrorism will be easy or quick, and certain Al Qaeda affiliates remain a troubling threat.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/07/31/al-qaeda-gaining-operational-capability-despite-core-losses-report-shows/#ixzz22JP8e4ry

Al Qaeda's Africa cell is group's strongest, general says

While the United States' counterterror campaign against al Qaeda's Yemen affiliate has dominated the headlines in recent months, the group's Africa cell has quietly emerged as the groups strongest and best funded faction, according to a top U.S. general.
The combination of lucrative kidnapping-for-ransom operations, a steady flow of arms and recruits stemming from the Libya uprising and numerous failed attempts by U.S. regional allies dismantle al Qaeda's Africa cell — known as al Qaeda in the Islamic Magreb (AQIM) — have led to the group's rise to power within the terror organization.


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Al-Qaeda Still a Threat in Yemen

A relative of a police academy cadet, killed in a suicide bombing attack, cries as he holds his coffin during a funeral procession in Sanaa July 14, 2012. (photo by REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah Ali Al Mahdi)

The Yemeni government is facing obstacles in the information and intelligence war against the al-Qaeda cells scattered across most of the country’s provinces. In contrast to the army’s easy victories against al-Qaeda's main strongholds in the provinces of Abyan and Shabwa, along with the air strikes that dealt al-Qaeda heavy losses in their leadership, accomplishments in the intelligence field have been sparse. Sanaa, the Yemeni capital, has failed to curb al-Qaeda’s attacks on the state’s military and security institutions.

About this Article

Summary: Yemen’s military and security services have scored successes against al-Qaeda, but the government is still weak when it comes to gathering intelligence — a key component of the “war on terror,” according to US and EU officials. Abou Bakr Abdallah reports that al-Qaeda sleeper cells are still capable of carrying out attacks in the country. Publisher: Al-Khaleej (U.A.E.) Original Title: Fears of Escalating Al-Qaeda Attacks in Yemen Author: Abou Bakr Abdallah Published on: Thursday, Jul 26, 2012 Translated On: Thursday, Jul 26, 2012 Translator: Rani Geha Categories : Yemen   Reports / Studies Security

The state’s weak intelligence capabilities are worrying Yemeni officials and the international envoys who recently conducted a series of discussions with government officials in order to strengthen the government’s capacity in this regard. Yemen’s allies see good intelligence as vital to the war on terror, especially since al-Qaeda decided to move away from direct confrontation and toward guerrilla warfare.
Yemeni officials recognize that tightening security procedures and increasing the armed forces’ ability to repel al-Qaeda attacks in Sanaa and other areas has not prevented al-Qaeda cells from scoring several successes. Over the weekend, al-Qaeda resumed its attacks in the province of Hadramaut, where an assassination attempt injured a senior military commander. In Aden, security forces foiled an attempt to destroy the Political Security (intelligence services) building.

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Al-Qaida in Iraq Threatens US Attacks

The militant group al-Qaida in Iraq is threatening to launch an attack on the United States, security officials said.
The group said in a message this week marking the start of Ramadan it intended to strike at the "heart" of the United States.
"You will soon witness how attacks will resound in the heart of your land, because our war with you has now started," said a man that identified himself as Abu Bakr Baghdadi, the pseudonym used by the head of the group.

This particular branch of al-Qaida, which has primarily focused on attacking U.S. forces in Iraq, as well as Iraq's Shiite-led government, has become stronger in the last year with the help of cash from wealthy benefactors and now appears to be plotting attacks on U.S. soil, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.


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Qaeda says Iraq bloodshed marks new campaign

Al-Qaeda's front group in Iraq said Wednesday that a wave of attacks that killed 113 days earlier marked the launch of a new offensive, as officials said seven people died in new unrest.
The spate of violence nationwide on Monday, which also wounded more than 250 people, was the worst to hit Iraq in more than two and a half years and shattered a relative calm that had held in the lead-up to the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
On Wednesday, the Islamic State of Iraq claimed the attacks in a statement posted on jihadist forum Honein.

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Al-Qaeda playing increasingly deadly role in Syria: report

Reportedly, presence of jihadists in Syria has accelerated due to a convergence with the sectarian tensions across the country’s border with Iraq. (AP)

 

Amid intensifying violence in Syria, concern is mounting that al-Qaeda is trying to change the nature of the conflict against President Bashar al-Assad’ regime and is resorting to suicide bombings to “hijack” the revolution, the New York Times (NYT) reported on Wednesday.

According to the NYT, while the Syrian opposition continues to deny any role of the extremists in the conflict American intelligence officials and Iraqi officials next door are concerned al-Qaeda is deeply involved in the conflict, injecting the weapon it perfected in Iraq —suicide bombings—into the struggle against Assad with increasing rate.

The paper said evidence is mounting that Syria has become a magnet for Sunni extremists, including those operating under the banner of al-Qaeda. The paper gave the example of the Bab al-Hawa border crossing with turkey that fell into rebel hands last week, but has quickly become a jihadists gathering point.

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Al Qaeda Is Defeated Not Destroyed

July 23, 2012: In the south, the ugly aftermath of months of fighting al Qaeda has to be cleaned up. All the combat in a few cities left infrastructure wrecked and more civilians unemployed. There's a shortage of food, water and much else. The southerners are unhappy and government efforts to help are perceived as inadequate.
The southern secessionist movement has emerged once more, now that the war with al Qaeda is over. The southern tribes still want more autonomy, if not a partition of the government into north and south. That won't happen, because the oil and gas is in the south.
The big problem is that the country has too many people and is running out of water, food and much else. Yemenis are fighting over what's left and southerners believe that northerners are taking more than their fair share. Alas, the southern independence movement is split by tribal and political allegiances. One faction backed al Qaeda, and that group is quiet now, having taken heavy losses as they fought alongside al Qaeda gunmen since last February. 


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